Orders of the Day — NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES OF SCOTLAND BILL [Lords]

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 3 February 1954.

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Photo of Mr Nigel Nicolson Mr Nigel Nicolson , Bournemouth East and Christchurch 12:00, 3 February 1954

I am not a Scotsman and I do not represent a Scottish constituency, but I hope I may be forgiven for intervening in the debate in that I bear an English name spelled in a Scots way. I own a few meagre acres of Scottish soil and I am particularly interested in the preservation and display of British antiquities, wherever they may be discovered and wherever they may be lodged.

No one can object to the main Clauses of the Bill. It is based upon a Report which has been universally acclaimed, and its conditions have the support of the National Galleries of Scotland, which stand to lose through the Bill their control over the National Museum of Antiquities.

The Bill raises certain relevant points applicable to museums in general. The hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Grimond) was a little disturbed by the powers given to the new board to destroy, remove, or sell, objects in its care; but I would point out that these powers are limited in two ways. First, by the necessity to confine their disposal of objects to those not donated, by gift or request, by people who presume that these objects will always remain in the care of the museum; secondly, while the power of destruction may seem to be wide, the Bill says that they may, with the consent of the Secretary of State, destroy any work vested in them which appears to them to be infested by destructive organisms, or by reason of deterioration to have become useless for the purposes of the museum. One may suppose that that will cover few objects in the care of the museum—only those which are riddled with vermin which may spread to more valuable objects, and those which have fallen to pieces to such an extent that they are of no practicable use.

Other hon. Members have pointed out that the Bill does not refer to many of the most important points made by the Philip Committee. It hardly deals with the subject of congestion. It was perhaps only by accident that as soon as the Report was published the Museum had the windfall of Shandwick Place. I join with other hon. Members in asking whether this is to be a permanent home, or merely a temporary lodging for the treasures in the Museum's possession. The Earl of Home, when he introduced the Bill in another place, described Shandwick Place as a building ideally situated for the purpose of a national museum, which would enable it to display its treasures to much greater advantage. That suggests that Shandwick Place is to be the museum's permanent home. If so, has it been acquired by gift, loan, or purchase, and is it intended to make this building the home of the proposed National Folk Museum as well as of the treasures in the possession of the Museum of Antiquities?

This Folk Museum, which was given prominence in the Philip Report, has no place in this Bill. If the recommendations in the Report are implemented, will it not be necessary to bring in another Bill to give the board power over the Folk Museum when it is established? Hon. Members will recall that the Philip Committee recommended that the Board should have parental status, as it were, over the National Museum of Antiquities and the proposed Folk Museum. The Report goes on to say that in the Committee's opinion—and I must, in fairness, add, in the opinion of the Permanent Commission of Museums and Galleries—the two museums should be housed in different buildings.

Is this wise or necessary? Different buildings will involve great waste of money. They will have to be purchased or built. They will need separate staffs, and will carry wasteful overheads. Is it in the interest of the public that people should, as in Wales, have to go to different buildings, perhaps separated by many miles, to view the antiquities of their country?